I wouldnt say we get a big admissions boost. But our oppressed background has to be considered. Most of us are first or second generation college because of our backgrounds. Many of us don't have the academic preparation to compete with alot of whites who have a deep educational heritage. Something has to even the playing field.

Alright you all! Let's get something straight here. AA is not the law, it is simply not against the law. And I believe it is highly exaggerated in how much it is actually used. The supreme court justices mandated the sun to set on the policy in 2028. Although the date is very arbitrary it sounds like a good date to me. AA is neither right nor wrong. It's merely a flawed tool used to try to correct past atrocities. But it is right in its attempt.

I am having trouble understanding why, exactly, blacks get a boost in admissions. Is it simply because, for some reason, we generally score lower on the LSAT? Anyone have links to any good articles expanding upon the whys?

I think it's mainly to recover ground for the HUGE racial inequality in our public school system today. Lower funded public schools that are disproportionately black tend to not be as effective...it's all a slippery slope that leads to the whole LSAT disparity (ie, reading comp, etc. it all stems from elementary school and we build upon it all the way up through college). I think it should be based solely on economic disadvantage but whatevs...African Americans who are helped by affirmative action deserve it. Yall have had to put up with a lot of crap.

Racial diversity in a student body improves thequality of legal education. Such diversity is especiallycritical for “elite” law schools, such as Harvard, Michigan,Stanford and Yale.3 These law schools share a broadly defined public mission to train graduates forleadership and service, and to instill within them zeal toconfront enduring dilemmas in American law and society.Recent social science studies have documented in detailhow diversity broadens the scope of campus discourse andteaches lessons in tolerance and cooperation.

3 For the purposes of this brief, the term “elite law school” refersgenerally to the nation’s most selective public and private law schools.These institutions typically admit less than 20 percent of all applicants,and are often listed as approximately the top 20 schools in various lawschool rankings. See, e.g., Best Graduate Schools, U.S. News & WorldReport, Apr. 15, 2002, at 64; Brian Leiter, The Top 40 Law Schools

Diversity also helps shatter lingering stereotypes regarding supposedideological uniformity within racial groups. Ascurrent students at elite law schools, the BLSAs’ membersare uniquely positioned to explain some of the significanteducational advantages attributable to the racially inclusiveenvironments found at their institutions. Thesestudents have participated in and learned from campusdiscourse and debates that are not likely to occur inracially homogenous academic settings.

Racial diversity is similarly vital to the credibility andlegitimacy of the legal profession. Although full integrationof the profession remains a distant goal, elite law schoolshave been uniquely instrumental in preparing minority4students – and especially black students – for leadershippositions in the bar and on the bench.

Without the ability to consider race in admissions decisions, these schools willfall short of fulfilling their unique public missions.Race-neutral alternatives are not effective substitutesfor race-conscious admissions policies.

4 The term “minority,” as used in this brief, refers primarily toblacks, Latinos and Native Americans, the historically disadvantagedgroups who are the principal beneficiaries of admissions policies thattake race into account.

If elite law schools are not allowed to consider race as one factor in admissions,the representation of black students at elite lawschools will drastically diminish. Moreover, as demonstratedin California and Texas, and as shown in empiricalstudies, the alternative programs that have been touted aspromising replacements for race-conscious admissionspolicies do not produce the racial diversity that is necessaryfor elite law schools to train future American leaders.

I think it's mainly to recover ground for the HUGE racial inequality in our public school system today. Lower funded public schools that are disproportionately black tend to not be as effective...it's all a slippery slope that leads to the whole LSAT disparity (ie, reading comp, etc. it all stems from elementary school and we build upon it all the way up through college). I think it should be based solely on economic disadvantage but whatevs...African Americans who are helped by affirmative action deserve it. Yall have had to put up with a lot of crap.

What have they had to put up with? They get favorable treatment from admissions, and carry the most powerful weapon known to man; the race card. To be honnest, I have no guilt for any minority in this country. They have many oppertunites to cash in on racism in the education, and employment enviornment.

I think it's mainly to recover ground for the HUGE racial inequality in our public school system today. Lower funded public schools that are disproportionately black tend to not be as effective...it's all a slippery slope that leads to the whole LSAT disparity (ie, reading comp, etc. it all stems from elementary school and we build upon it all the way up through college). I think it should be based solely on economic disadvantage but whatevs...African Americans who are helped by affirmative action deserve it. Yall have had to put up with a lot of crap.

What have they had to put up with? They get favorable treatment from admissions, and carry the most powerful weapon known to man; the race card. To be honnest, I have no guilt for any minority in this country. They have many oppertunites to cash in on racism in the education, and employment enviornment.

If you believe THAT, you are a fool. Institutional racism is not the bain of existence for people of color, social racism, which often manifests itself in the form of institutional racism, is. It's the subtle things, like when YOU see a beautiful white woman walking down the street with a Black guy dressed in baggy clothes and the first thing you do is nod your head emphatically ("No") as you look at them from behind, as if to say, "WHY?...I don't get it...he's beneathe me...he's not as good looking as I am, he's...Black...I'm a white guy with yada-yada hair and eyes...she should be with ME".

And in all of it, you are unaware that this really good-looking Black guy in the baggy clothes could be a college-educated entertainment entrepreneur who gives his time to the homeless...or maybe a born-again christian studying medicine, or a counselor to inner-city kids.

You are one of those white people who just has to believe that Blacks and other minorities are just messed-up, and they fail or acheive less because they are simply "inferior". And even when they do acheive, you still believe they are inferior. I can understand why whites have to think this way; it's much easier than facing their guilt.

The fact is, you will see that couple on your way to work at the gas station, or wherever it is you work, and you will treat your next Black customer like garbage because you're mad that this (inferior) Black man has a prettier girlfriend than you have, and she's white. And if you're a manager, you will refuse to hire your next Black, male applicant...because you fear he might date the white girls YOU WANT or do your job better than you. And this will happen millions of times per day all over America.

And on the receiving end will be people of color. Social racism exacts a daily toll on people of color that you will never understand. Every sleight, every incident of disrespect, vulgarity, mistreatment in stores (not being followed by security or police, but just subtly being treated like crap by the checkout person) takes a toll on your emotional, mental, and even, physical health.

Forget the cops, most Blacks will experience racism at their hands at some point in their lives, but it's too easy for people to say, "I think it's so messed up the way cops treat Black dudes, maaaan!" That allows too many people to dismiss racism as "'out there'...somewhere...but not 'HERE'...so I'm absolved...I'm not a racist."

Well, you ARE a racist to write what you just wrote.

I come online to seek community with others - a marketplace of ideas, if you will - and have to read racist garbage from ingrates who just refuse to believe it...refuse to believe the exact complaints THEY, themselves, would make if they were Black or a person of color.

Your argument is that racism doesn't exist or that, if it does, it isn't pervasive enough to warrant any attention. Get your head out of the sand* (I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt*, here). Either whites like you are the dumbest people on earth, or just plain barbarians; it's one or the other, because racism is alive and well, and too pervasive to miss if one takes an honest look around. And having a Black President doesn't change that.

As far as what Blacks have "had to put up with"...try Jim Crowe Laws until the 1960's. Your family didn't have specific laws directed against them for the sole purpose of keeping them disenfranchised. Slavery hasn't hurt me...I was never a slave. But everything that has happened afterwards (until today) is another story.